Spending The 4th With Me Review

Reviewed by astroknight  on  4/1/2004

NOTE: This is an amateur video. Amateur and homemade movies don’t have the budget nor the resources of studio porn, and therefore rarely get close to the same quality technically. I’m rating this DVD on the same scale, but most homemade or amateur features would rarely make it above a 3 on the standard scale I use for studio porn for their technical aspects. The performers also aren’t normally the ‘glamour stars’ one expects from studio porn, and instead use people who look like somebody you might encounter in your day to day life. Finally, the camera work has a different feel, as it’s often shot from a tripod or with somebody who doesn’t have the technical training or experience of professional cameramen. That said, amateur and homemade features have a great charm to them, simple because the people in them are doing what they’re doing to have fun and because they enjoy it. All the things that separate them from studio porn contribute to that charm, I hope people will keep that in mind when checking out this review and not just look at the ratings as the ultimate word on this release. Since the technical aspects are normally lacking and there normally isn’t much for extras in amateur features, I’ve weighted my overall rating more heavily towards the sex than I do in most studio porn.

The Little Details

Running Time: 57 min.

Production Date: 7 / 4 / 2003

Director: None listed

Cast: Mandi

The Short Story

Initial Expectations: I’ve been enjoying the little I’ve seen from Pixie’s Emporium and Mandi. I’m looking forward to this one.

Initial Reaction: I’ve seen much better from Pixie’s Emporium.

Who Should Watch It : Anybody wanting a light movie with a fun feeling

Who Should Avoid It: Anybody wanting high quality audio throughout the feature

The Technical Stuff

Audio /Video Quality: The technical aspects leave a bit to be desired, which is completely normal for an amateur movie. The audio is normally pretty clear, but it’s not unusual for the surrounding noises to drown out the performers. You also get to hear the cameraman now and then, as well as catch glimpses of him. The video is surprisingly good. There’s a few shadows and plenty of camera shake, but it’s also extremely clear. The sound here might be what one normally expects from an amateur feature, but the video far surpasses it.

Music: There’s a little music here and there throughout the movie. It normally fits the theme of the movie, and is normally a bit loud.

Disc Complaint: There’s a watermark in the lower right corner of the screen. I mention it here because I know that a lot of people really hate watermarks. On the plus side, it’s clear and it stays there consistently throughout the feature so that you can put it out of your mind fairly easily.

Menus: There’s only one menu, and sadly, it sucks. It’s extremely basic and pretty much just looks like cheap selection screen with one choice. It does anything but make a good first impression.

The Feature

When Mandi’s boyfriend stands her up on the fourth of July, she isn’t going to let it get her down completely. She invites a couple who stumble by her decorated house while camping to join her for the holiday. She goes upstairs and watches them while they enjoy her pool, and has a little fun of her own.

Scene 1 - The Visiting Couple

After a walk in the woods, a couple get busy in their tent. They both look like real people, and both have their nipples pierced as the cameraman moves around to watch them through the screen on the tent and pokes the camera inside. The chick sucks the guy’s cock as well as his pierced nipples before laying back so that he can tongue her twat. He appears to get her to an orgasm, and the scene fades out without them fucking.

This is an okay scene. There’s nice chemistry between the couple, and it comes through well even though you can’t hear them well. There’s a nice spirit of fun here, and my only complaint is that they didn’t get around to fucking.

Scene 2A - The Visiting Couple

The visiting couple takes Mandi up on her offer to use the pool when Mandi goes into the house. They strip down and start skinny dipping, as I have a feeling that swimming suits are forbidden in Mandi’s pool. The girl hops up onto the edge of the pool to get her twat tongued a bit more before they head to the steps for her to mouth his manhood. She climbs up to ride him before they get out so that he can give it to her from behind. They also get in the cowgirls and a little missionary action with the girl getting her ass played with every chance she gets. Finally, they get out and the girl gives him a bit more oral. It looks like he might have given her a little pop in the mouth, but you never see any guy goo.

This is an okay at best scene. There looks to be a bit of chemistry, but you can barely hear the performers which makes it very hard to get much of a feeling of chemistry. The camera work is nicely varied, but some of it gets very pixelated and grainy. There’s some good stuff in this scene, but unfortunately the bad seems to balance it out.

Scene 2B - Mandi and Uncle Sam

When the visiting couple gets it on in the pool, Mandi watches a bit from the upstairs window. She gets turned on enough that she feels the need to do something, and decides to have some fun with her stuffed Uncle Sam. She gives him a good show before breaking out a vibrating egg and vibe to play with. She continues working herself over until she’s satisfied.

As usual, Mandy does a very nice job here. You can tell she’s having a lot of fun and she plays to the camera very well also. She puts some nice energy into her play, and my only complaint with the scene is that it focuses a bit much of the close-up shots for my tastes.

Spend the 4th with “ME”! is a slightly below average amateur feature. It’s high point is Mandi, which is nothing new for Pixie’s Emporium. In the few scenes I’ve watched with Mandi, she’s always done a great job. She’s cute, has a great natural body, and an obvious enthusiasm for sex. You can tell she loves what she’s doing, and she works for the camera very well. The other couple isn’t nearly as good looking, but you can tell they’re into each other pretty well. This is fairly typical for amateur porn, which relies more on chemistry than studio porn, but there’s a big wrinkle thrown in here. The wrinkle is the pacing of the movie. It’s basically one warmup scene and then two scenes spliced together. The warmup is nicely done, and although I would have liked to see a pop or some fucking, I can live with it. The bigger problem is the last two scenes. They’re spliced together, which almost always kills the heat in a scene. Every time it builds up nicely, the scene switches from one side to the other. It takes an extremely skilled director to make this work, and even then most of them seem to fail. The setup works well for this to work here, but it never quite makes it. I do like how it flows between the scenes, such as having Mandi look out the window to watch the action before the camera goes there, but it still breaks things up. The camera work shows some nice care, and gets some very nice shots, especially since much of it looks to be shot from the window Mandi looks out. Yes, there’s some grain on the close-ups, but it looks like the camera is at about it’s maximum zoom to get them. The other problem here is the audio. Since the shots are being taken from a distance, you can’t really hear the performers. There are some exceptions, but most of the time it’s hard for me to get much of a feeling of chemistry without hearing the performers. This couple comes across pretty well, but it still suffers a little. Spending the 4th With “ME”! shows some decent potential, but doesn’t quite make full use of it.

The Extra Stuff

None.

The Down -n- Dirty Sex Stuff

Themes: Straight, oral, voyeurism, tease, masturbation, and toys

Raincoat Factor: High

Condom Usage: None

The Bottom Line:

Currently, many DVDs from Pixie’s Emporium can be found online for around $13. This is a bit steep here. The DVD feels a bit sloppy at times, although most of it does have very good video. The sex also lacks a bit. Aim cheap here or rent this one before you buy it.

Note to Pixie’s Emporium: You have a good start, but the DVD feels rushed. Menus can be a pain, but the way they’re done here doesn’t make the consumer feel they’re buying a high quality product. I’ve seen some very nice stuff from you, so right now I’m looking at this one as a fluke. I’m hoping I’m right!

Extra Note (05April2004): Since this review went up I’ve been told that Pixie’s Emporium has remade this DVD and that I checked out the old version. In the new version, the video is the same, but there’s now audio to match it. It also has motion menus, a chapter menu, and a two minute plus photo gallery, which they’ve done nicely on some of their other releases I’ve seen. With these additions I wouldn’t have any problem with anybody checking it out, as they should make the DVD much nicer.

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me .

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